Button-fastener.



No. 679,9". I Patented Aug. 6, I901.

E. M. PHELPS.

BUTTON FASTENEB.

(Application filed July 24, 1900. Renewed Mar. 28, 1901.)

(N0 Modal.)

WITNESSES:

(O-LING" wAsamcman. 0. c4

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ETHEL M. PHELPS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BUTTON-FASTEN ER.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 679,911, dated August 6, 1901.

Application filed July 24, 1900. Renewed March 28, 1901. Serial Nd 53,301. (No model.)

To all whom, it 11tayc0nccrn:

Be it known that I, ETHEL M. PHELPS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Button-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to means for detachably securing buttons to garments and is also applicable in whole or in part to separable shirt-studs and similar articles, as will hereinafter appear.

Considering its application to garment-buttons, the objects of the invention are to secure a proper hold upon the cloth, provide a shank resembling that of an ordinary sewed button, and provide adesirable and acceptable means of detachably holding the button. To these ends the invention comprises certainnovel features of construction and organization hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, which are on quite a large scale to clearly show the details of construction, Figure l is aside eleva: tion of the back-piece and prongs; Fig. 2, a like view at right angles to Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a sectional view showing the parts assembled, but the locking-disk not applied; Fig. 4, a like view with the lockingdisk in place; Fig. 5, a plan of a button with the locking-disk seated in its face; Fig. 6, a horizontal section through the locking-disk, and Fig. 7 a plan of a concavo-convex disk that may be applied to the under side of the button. Fig. 8 shows another way of using the invention, in which the locking-disk is placed at the back or rear face of the button.

The drawings show the invention applied for the attachment of buttons to garments in lieu of the usual sewing.

A back piece or disk a is provided with two prongs b, which are attached opposite each other to the disk near its edge and then extend toward each other into contact or close proximity, as at c, leaving between them and the face of the disk a comparatively narrow or contracted space in which the cloth 0c is held or clamped. From the point 0 the prongs diverge and then are parallel with each other, as seen at at, so that they may readily be passed through the apertures of an ordinary button, as y. Atits end each prong is formed The locking device e, which may be widely varied in construction and yet perform the desired function in association with the other parts, is, as shown, a hollow disk having in its face adjacent to the button apertures 71, that the apertured ends of the prongs enter,

and within it two latches or locking-pins 7a, which are the bent-up ends of a yoke Z, sliding in a guide or way formed by two straight parallel partitions m and normally impelled by a springn in such direction as to project the ends of the pins 7.: part way across the openings '5, their normal position being determined by the abutment of the yoke against the ends of the partitions. Whcn the locking device is applied, the prongs enter the openings in it and with proper pressure force back the ends of the pins, which by the reaction of the spring are caused to enter the apertures in the prongs and lock the parts together. In this operation the ends of the pins catch in the channels 71. and are accurately directed to the apertures in the prongs. In the peripheral wall of the locking device opposite the center of the yoke Z, and therefore at a point between the partitions m, is an aperture 0. WVhen it is desired to detach the button, a common pin or other pointed device may be pressed intothe opening 0 against the yoke, the spring of which yields and permits the disengagement of the pins 70 from the prongs. 7

While this fastening device is adapted to be used with any ordinary button, I may provide with it a special but-ton, such as that shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, which has in its face a countersink or recess 19 of such shape as to receive, closely fitting, the locking device, so that it need project little, if any, when applied at the outer face of the button.

In Fig. 8 the locking device 6 is shown as secured in a recess in the rear face or back of a button z, a peripheral aperture in which coincides with the opening in the locking device, and the disk q may be used, if desired. This is an arrangement or form of my invention that is'desirable in some cases, particularly for attachment of buttons to furs.

For the purpose of holdingthe button firmly a resilient concavo-convex disk or pressure device q may be employed. It has,

as shown, apertures through which the parallel ends of the prongs pass, and when the button is pressed down upon it it yields sufficiently to permit proper engagement of the locking-pins with the prongs, and the button, which might otherwise be somewhat loosely held, is clamped against the yielding disk.

This device, as shown, or one having the same principles of construction and mode of operation may be used for shirt-studs. In that-case the back-piece a may be the front button or face of the stud, and the locking device be applied inside the garment.

It is of course obvious that this device is not limited to the use of two prongs.

It will be observed that the parallel endsof the prongs are coincident or in line with r the points of attachment to the back a. When back-piece, prongsattached thereto that converge, then diverge and are parallel at their outer ends, and a detachable locking device adapted to engage the'ends of the prongs.

2. A bu tton-fastening device comprising a back-piece, prongs attached thereto, that converge and then diverge, and a detachable locking device adapted to engage the ends of the prongs.

A button-fastening device comprising a back-piece, prongs attached thereto,that converge and then diverge, and a locking device adapted to engage the ends of the prongs.

4. A button-fastening device comprising a back-piece, prongs attached thereto that converge and then diverge, a button-clamping device through which the outer ends of the prongs pass, and a detachable locking device adapted to engage the ends of the prongs.

5. The combination of a back-piece, one or more prongs attached thereto, and formed with apertured, beveled and channeled ends, and a hollow apertured locking-disk having yielding locking-pins adapted to be forced back by the ends of the prongs and then enter the apertures therein.

6. The combination of a back-piece, one or more prongs attached thereto and formed with apertured, beveled and channeled ends, and a hollow apertured locking-disk having yielding locking-pins adapted to be forced back by the ends of the prongs and then enter the apertures therein, and also having an opening in its peripheral face for the insertion of a device for at will disengaging the locking-pins from the prongs.

7. In abutton-fastening device, the combination of a back-piece, two prongs attached thereto, and a'locking device comprising a hollow body containing spri'ng acting locking devices acting in unison to detachably engage the ends of the prongs and'having a peripheral aperture for the insertion of a pointed instrument to simultaneously press both looking devices out of engagement with the prongs.

8; The combination of a back-plate, prongs attached thereto that converge and then diverge, an ordinary apertured button having a cavity in its face, and a locking-disk removably seated in the cavity.

9. The combination with of a back-plate, prongs attached thereto that converge and then diverge thereby'form'ing a shank contracted at a point in front of the back-plate and an outer locking-plate havingrecesses or apertures, one for each prong and within each reeess'or aperture a locking device for detachably engaging the prongs.

ETI-IEL M. PHELPS.

\Vitn'esses:

A. H. BITTENHOEFER, EDWARD C. DAVIDSON. 

